Posts For: June 13, 2011

Coming into this debate, a lot of pundits thought Mitt Romney would benefit from having the other challengers gang up on him about health care. They were wrong since doing so would have exposed Romney’s vulnerabilities not confirmed him as the frontrunner.

Unfortunately for Tim Pawlenty, he listened to those voices urging caution and that provided the debate’s signature moment. Offered an opportunity to hit his main opponent hard on Obamneycare as he called it just a few days ago, Pawlenty whiffed. In the end, it really doesn’t matter whether it was because he was too nice or not courageous enough to call out Romney to his face. Either way he failed. It was a key moment in this race and one that Pawlenty will rue in the months to come. He walks away from the debate clearly weakened by this astonishing failure of either nerve or imagination. Instead of winning the competition between the two mainstream candidates, Pawlenty is now in danger of slipping back into the second tier.

The other candidates followed Pawlenty’s lead and Romney left the debate unscathed. That is a major victory for him and, almost in spite of his clear weaknesses, confirms him as the temporary frontrunner.

Among those second-tier candidates, the clear winner was Michelle Bachmann who demonstrated energy as well as a willingness to stand up for her Tea Party principles. Her debut on the national stage was a strong one.

The main reaction to the first GOP debate in South Carolina was a call for more candidates. Pawlenty’s failure will encourage those who want Rick Perry or Paul Ryan to run. But Bachmann’s strong showing ought to further discourage Sarah Palin whose populist mantle is now being seized by the congresswoman from Minnesota. Her hopes of being the second tier breakout candidate in 2012 as Mike Huckabee was in 2008 are much more realistic right now than they were two hours ago.

It’s early but if we must pick winners six months away from the first votes being cast, Mitt Romney is the mainstream frontrunner with Michelle Bachmann setting herself up as the potential wild card.

Coming into this debate, a lot of pundits thought Mitt Romney would benefit from having the other challengers gang up on him about health care. They were wrong since doing so would have exposed Romney’s vulnerabilities not confirmed him as the frontrunner.

Unfortunately for Tim Pawlenty, he listened to those voices urging caution and that provided the debate’s signature moment. Offered an opportunity to hit his main opponent hard on Obamneycare as he called it just a few days ago, Pawlenty whiffed. In the end, it really doesn’t matter whether it was because he was too nice or not courageous enough to call out Romney to his face. Either way he failed. It was a key moment in this race and one that Pawlenty will rue in the months to come. He walks away from the debate clearly weakened by this astonishing failure of either nerve or imagination. Instead of winning the competition between the two mainstream candidates, Pawlenty is now in danger of slipping back into the second tier.

The other candidates followed Pawlenty’s lead and Romney left the debate unscathed. That is a major victory for him and, almost in spite of his clear weaknesses, confirms him as the temporary frontrunner.

Among those second-tier candidates, the clear winner was Michelle Bachmann who demonstrated energy as well as a willingness to stand up for her Tea Party principles. Her debut on the national stage was a strong one.

The main reaction to the first GOP debate in South Carolina was a call for more candidates. Pawlenty’s failure will encourage those who want Rick Perry or Paul Ryan to run. But Bachmann’s strong showing ought to further discourage Sarah Palin whose populist mantle is now being seized by the congresswoman from Minnesota. Her hopes of being the second tier breakout candidate in 2012 as Mike Huckabee was in 2008 are much more realistic right now than they were two hours ago.

It’s early but if we must pick winners six months away from the first votes being cast, Mitt Romney is the mainstream frontrunner with Michelle Bachmann setting herself up as the potential wild card.

Not one of the candidates came close to articulating our purpose in continuing to fight our wars. Poor showing, but of a piece with the larger problem in the GOP field: a complete inability to define our challenges and inspire us to meet them.

Not one of the candidates came close to articulating our purpose in continuing to fight our wars. Poor showing, but of a piece with the larger problem in the GOP field: a complete inability to define our challenges and inspire us to meet them.

Michelle Bachmann tweaks Obama for “leading from behind” while at the same time opposing the effort to oust Qaddafi. Inconsistent though she scores a point about possible Islamists among the Libyan opposition.

Michelle Bachmann tweaks Obama for “leading from behind” while at the same time opposing the effort to oust Qaddafi. Inconsistent though she scores a point about possible Islamists among the Libyan opposition.

Santorum says phase out ethanol subsidies. John King is too interested in silly questions to see if Mitt Romney will defend ethanol. Ridiculous. In the South Carolina debate, the moderators were better than the candidates. Not here.

Santorum says phase out ethanol subsidies. John King is too interested in silly questions to see if Mitt Romney will defend ethanol. Ridiculous. In the South Carolina debate, the moderators were better than the candidates. Not here.

None of the candidates sounded a realistic note about immigration. For a party full of people who purport to be serious students of economics, it’s ridiculous that none were prepared to talk sense about this. For a century Marxists tried to repeal the laws of economics, now conservatives try to do the same when it comes to people coming to America to work.

None of the candidates sounded a realistic note about immigration. For a party full of people who purport to be serious students of economics, it’s ridiculous that none were prepared to talk sense about this. For a century Marxists tried to repeal the laws of economics, now conservatives try to do the same when it comes to people coming to America to work.

Rick Santorum gets the opportunity to take a shot at Romney on abortion. Unlike Pawlenty who whiffed on Obamneycare, he doesn’t pass up the chance to tweak him. Nobody else wants to mess with Romney. Score one for Santorum.

Rick Santorum gets the opportunity to take a shot at Romney on abortion. Unlike Pawlenty who whiffed on Obamneycare, he doesn’t pass up the chance to tweak him. Nobody else wants to mess with Romney. Score one for Santorum.

Bad showing all around on the Muslim question. There’s one right answer: I would hire any American I believed could do the best for my administration and my country–any race, religion, or creed. The meandering into crazy Sharialand and different types of Muslims will cost the GOP.

Bad showing all around on the Muslim question. There’s one right answer: I would hire any American I believed could do the best for my administration and my country–any race, religion, or creed. The meandering into crazy Sharialand and different types of Muslims will cost the GOP.

A boring moment about whether or not raising the debt ceiling was saved by Michelle Bachmann’s quote of Senator Barack Obama’s opposition to doing it when Bush was president. Another good moment for her.

A boring moment about whether or not raising the debt ceiling was saved by Michelle Bachmann’s quote of Senator Barack Obama’s opposition to doing it when Bush was president. Another good moment for her.